Animal art gets a boost from Nature

This new Peninsula Fine Arts Center exhibit of more than 60 works features selections from the 51st Members Exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists. Though the emphasis clearly falls on realistic depiction and sometimes aims no higher than straightforward visual reportage, there are many compelling works of art on view exploring both provocative natural themes and the interpretive role of the artist. It runs through March 25. -- Mark St. John Erickson (Society of Animal Artists)

At a Glance

Most American wildlife artists don't think twice when it comes to taking the super-realistic path pioneered so spectacularly by the great John James Audubon in the early 1800s.

No one had ever seen anything like his closely observed, disarmingly lifelike portraits when — after more than a dozen years of demanding work in the field and studio — his landmark "Birds of North America" collection began to appear in 1827. And so great was the acclaim for this historic tour de force that — nearly 200 years later — an army of artists is still trying to match his astonishing benchmark.

Indeed, nearly all of the talents found in "Art and the Animal" — which runs through March 25 at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center — aim intently for fidelity to life, and many handle paint, pencil or clay so well they bring an impressive level of realism to their portraits.

Yet — especially in an age of faultless photographic reproductions — the best works in the show reach beyond faithful representations of anatomy and behavior in the same way Audubon learned to do, adding a painter or sculptor's feel for composition, drama and even soul to the forthright veracity of the field naturalist.

What results here in more than a few cases are portraits of animals that seem more real than real. And that's because the image not only fills your eyes with a likeness that can be seen but also a presence that is keenly if sometimes only unconsciously felt.

Made of more than 60 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures drawn from the 51st Annual Members Exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists, "Art and the Animal" has a global as well as national reach, including works from as far away as Scotland and Australia as well as across the United States.

High among the ranks of the most compelling is Vermont artist Sue Westin's oil portrait, "Cashmere Glow."

Rather than depicting her subject in its entirety, Westin zooms in on the head, neck and shoulders — then crops out the rest — isolating the most telltale features of this Cashmere goat with a vantage point that's both close and personal. She picks out every skein of its dense, shaggy coat in a way that not only underscores the character and texture of its much-prized wool but also produces eye-grabbing passages of pattern, light and color.

As you study the nuanced glow that emanates from its coat and horns, moreover, you may be surprised to discover that this wary, slant-eyed creature is also aiming a sideways glance at you. And few things add more to the convincingness of any portrait than making the viewer feel like his or her gaze is being returned.

Scottish artist Jonathan Paul Sainsbury takes a similar tack, zooming in so closely on a life-sized pair of "Pied Turkeys" that the black-and-white patterns of their round, densely feathered forms almost seem abstract.

Shape, line and texture are just as important in this deftly executed charcoal and watercolor portrait as the eye-grabbing avian likeness.

That's why it may come as such as surprise when your roving eyes pass from the airy realm of meticulously layered black-and-white feathers to the angry pinks and blues of the leathery caruncles, snoods and wattles that wrap around the creatures' heads and necks.

"When I first saw these birds I was smitten," Sainsbury explains, in the catalog that accompanies the exhibit.

"They were a picture waiting to be painted..."

Don't miss Maryland artist Terry Miller's expertly rendered drawing "Up for the Challenge," which underscores the strength of two giant draft horses through the physical exertions of their bent-over handlers and the determined expression of the driver struggling to hitch them to a sled.

Then there's Michigan artist Rod Lawrence's memorable "A Bird in the Hand," which combines game bird feathers, deer antlers, a beaver pelt and a bird's nest into an eye-fooling still life worthy of the great 19th-century American trompe l'oeil painter William Harnett and such-famed masterpieces as "After the Hunt."

So full of texture, light and provocative if unspoken meaning is this smart little painting that it easily ranks among the biggest and most rewarding works in the show.

Erickson can be reached at merickson@dailypress.com and 247-4783. Find him at dailypress.com/entertainment/arts and Facebook.com/dpentertainment

Want to go?

"Art of the Animal," featuring selected works from the 51st Annual Members Exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists